Once harvested and processed, the traditional way of drinking this Tea is with a Gourd and a Bombilla. These leaves are used in the making of Yerba Mate Herbal Tea.
It produces small fruit berries and greenish-white flowers. The plant itself belongs to the Holy (Aquifoliaceae) family and can grow to heights of up to 15 metres. This, of course, is in addition to so-called "real" Tea, as well as Coffee. It is one of only a handful of plants in the world that produces caffeine. Yerba Maté (Ilex Paraguariensis) is a herb native to South America. Regardless, its extraordinary taste lingers on the palate long after you've drained your gourd! What is Yerba Mate? When brewed, it offers the combined flavour notes of smoked wood, tobacco and fine Green Tea. These exceptional items are what you require to fully embrace the wonderful and centuries-old tradition of drinking Yerba Mate. This kit includes Yerba Mate, a Gourd (a dried and hollowed fruit used as a cup) and a Bombilla (a metal straw-cum-filter). Today, we know it as delicious, wholesome, nutritious Yerba Mate. The Europeans called it the "Green God of the Indios". The indigenous peoples of South America once called this herb the "Drink of the Gods". Have you ever tried mate before? Was it mate Uruguay or mate Argentina? Please let us know in the comments below what you thought of it.This is not just a drink - it's an experience. If you can, choose the traditional drink rather than the newer spritzy versions of the original. Mate is a drink and a tradition worth tasting. Outside of Latin America, you can also find mate being consumed in other parts of the world such as Syria, Germany, France, Canada, the UK, Australia, and the U.S. Mate has many benefits and is a powerful source of health and well-being. The simple act of adding a little sugar made the taste much more tolerable, though it is an acquired taste. We found it too bitter, until we discovered you can add sugar to it. It has a unique taste of herbs and plants. It does not taste like coffee or bitter green tea. It is deeply rooted in the culture and one cannot miss the shiny aluminum thermos flasks that accessorize every outfit.īoth Claire and I tried mate and needed first to get used to its bitter taste. Apparently, Uruguay developed the use of a thermos flask with a tubular spout, which led to the abandonment of the kettle and the rise of mate consumption on the go.īeing on this food quest in Uruguay, it would have been impossible not to talk about mate. The thermos flask is used to keep the water hot for several hours. It consists of a “neck” or tube with a filter (think tea infuser) and a mouthpiece at the end. They are generally silver and made of metal. The bombilla is a kind of metal straw and is the instrument used to drink the mate. A personal date etched onto a very personal item. We talked to a lady who showed us her cup with the date “2010” inscribed, which she told us was the year her child was born. Every single mate cup we saw was distinctly decorated. The second most striking fact is the unique personalization of each cup. Everywhere you look, in stores, and on the streets, there are people selling mate cups of all different types. The first is how widely available they are. Two things are striking about the mate cups. It is made from a dried calabash gourd, that must be “cured” before being used to drink the infusion. The cup or mate is both the name of the drink and the drinking vessel.
Multiple choices at the local market in Uruguay
And, as mate novices, we prefer to leave the passionate discussion about each country’s mate to the experts. There is a friendly rivalry between Uruguay and Argentina about mate. A little bit of sugar or at times a hint of ginger, cinnamon, or orange peels are mixed in with the mate herbs. And the mate is traditionally consumed with almost boiling hot water, accompanied by sweet cookies like alfajores.Īrgentines tend to consume Argentina mate like Rosamonte, which is strong and bitter. The difference between Uruguay mate and Argentina mate is both a combination of the kind of mate used and personal preference.Ĭarnarias Yerba Mate is one of the most popular brands in Uruguay. While in Argentina, the mate we had with locals was at home with boiling water from a kettle. In Uruguay, one of the biggest surprises we observed is seeing people walking around with a thermos flask. While there are some differences in the way it is consumed, the two countries share more similarities than differences. The mate culture is strong both in Argentina and Uruguay.
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